Tae Hwan Park

Short Biography

Park Tae-hwan (born September 27, 1989) is a South Korean competitive swimmer who is an Olympic gold medalist and world champion. He has four Olympic medals, two world titles, and 20 Asian Games medals. He won a gold medal in the 400-meter freestyle and a silver in the 200-meter freestyle events at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He also won two silver medals at the 2012 Summer Olympics in the 200- and 400-meter freestyle. He is the first Asian swimmer to claim a gold medal in the men's 400-meter freestyle, and the first Korean to win an Olympic medal in swimming. He is known for his impressive range and versatility, as he is able to compete at international level in 100-, 200-, 400- and 1, 500-meter freestyle. He is the first swimmer to swim under 49 seconds in 100-meter freestyle and under 15 minutes in 1, 500-meter freestyle. He remained as the only person to have such impressive range until Sun Yang joined the club in 2013. He was hit by a steroid scandal as prosecutors confirmed on January 27, 2015 that he tested positive in a doping test because he took Nebido, a relatively new anabolic steroid.